Sandesh Prabhudesai
25 June 1997
The Azadi Bachao Andolan has called for a national debate on a more viable alternative to the existing Parliamentary system, while celebrating golden jubilee of India's independence. It has also appealed for yet another freedom movement, claiming that political sovereignty, economic freedom and cultural identity of the country is in danger once again.
Rajiv Dikshit, one of the leaders of the Andolan while in Goa as part of his nation-wide tour, cautioned about what he described as re-colonisation taking roots in the country in the name of globalisation and liberalisation. No political party can save the country in such a situation, he feels.
"While it was the East India Company which had colonised India under the pretext of trade and transfer of technology, the same process is being repeated with MNCs coming in and institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund deciding our policies", he alleges.
It's not surprising that Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram goes to London and invites MNCs to India, recalling East India Company's arrival to India, opines Dikshit, alleging that their political initiative is fully sponsored by such dominant international financial groups.
How will our sovereignty remain alive when we have even offered Indian citizenship to the top executives of the MNCs, he asks, fearing that they may contest elections tomorrow and sit in the Parliament to run our country; not a different phenomena than what the British did.
While all the MNCs are using India as a dumping ground for its redundant technology, the cultural identity is also being directly threatened with preaching of corrupt western culture, combined with violence and vulgarity, through the electronic media, he observes.
Dikshit is meeting the student community and several other academicians and NGOs, propagating his views against the invasion of MNCs and the 're-colonisation'. "India needs to rethink about its economic freedom, to achieve political, social and cultural freedom in its true sense", he says.
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